If you’ve been living under a rock for the past two weeks, you might be blissfully unaware that Michigan Football has become the talk of American team sports – entrenched in an alleged ‘sign-stealing scandal’ that has spurred a new investigation from the NCAA, and prompted potential action from the Big Ten Conference against the program – namely Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh.
Harbaugh has been no stranger to reprimands this yea; he was handed a three-game suspension by Michigan to start the season in response to an ongoing NCAA investigation into the program’s potential recruiting violations.
And while college football fans, programs and various onlookers await the judgment of new Big Ten commissioner (and former COO of Major League Baseball) Tony Petitti, Michigan has a different battle in their sights: a date this Saturday at 10th-ranked Penn State.
Much of why the speculation and excoriation around the Wolverines has become such a hot button topic in the media can be summed up pretty simply – this team has become a defining force in the competitive landscape of college football, yet just three years ago they were a program adrift.
Before the COVID pandemic led to several power conferences canceling games late in the season (which began later than usual, as well), the 2020 Michigan Wolverines were 2-4 – and the questions of whether Harbaugh was truly capable of turning the program around were starting to grow louder.
But in 2021, Michigan became one of the most feared teams in the nation.
A dominant defensive front led by the likes of Aiden Hutchinson and David Ojabo, a pair of stud rushers in the backfield with Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum, and the emerging promise of a talented rookie who showed flashes of something special under center: JJ McCarthy.
They finally beat their most bitter rivals, Ohio State, for the first time in a decade, and made their first-ever College Football Playoff appearance.
So it seems a little too convenient that this momentous yet brief epoch would also be the time frame in which former offensive analyst Connor Stallions, now relieved of his duties at Michigan, is alleged to have acquired tickets to more than 30 Big Ten games, of which it’s believed that he dispersed across a network of collaborators to collect play calling signs for future Michigan opponents.
And that brings Michigan to the question that every college football fan will be asking themselves this Saturday – which was it, the massive war chest of NFL-worthy talent that the program has managed to sign over the past few seasons, led by one of football’s most strident and galvanizing figures, or, a competitive advantage gained through the plot of an organized cabal?
One thing that’s clear is that those wishing for swift and decisive action against the program have also made sure to establish that Harbaugh is, by the letter of the NCAA guidelines, responsible for the transgressions of his subordinates regardless of whether he was aware of their actions.
But another faction has also done the service to warn that if drastic and punitive actions are taken by the Big Ten before the NCAA has had a chance to conclude its investigation – a new precedent has the potential to open Pandora’s Box.
Or, to put it another way, the pitchforks don’t get put away as easily as they’re pulled out.
In a year where college football has been devoid of anything that seems to resemble perfection, maybe it’s best that Michigan has arrived, one of the most storied and brash programs in the sport’s history, to play the role of the smiling villain.
It seems natural to ask whether these off-the-field issues and scrutiny towards the leader of their locker room could be a potential distraction for players heading into their biggest game of the season thus far. But if there’s one thing that truly sets this squad of Michigan players apart from their past contemporaries, it’s how much this collective group loves playing for Michigan – and for their head coach.
Truly, if last weekend’s postgame presser after beating Purdue told us anything, it’s that the players are not interested in what voices outside the program have to say about them. And, if those voices get any louder, it might just serve as further motivation to shut them up.
Michigan travels to University Park to face 10th-ranked Penn State this Saturday. Kickoff at Noon.
